More than £13,000 has been awarded to community projects in the Sid Valley.

Sidmouth Town Council, with support from Newton Poppleford Parish Council, secured £2,700 for a mental health project to benefit local young people.

The councils were also awarded £1,847 to set up a Sid Valley Youth Netball Club, plus £8,532 to create wildflower beds in grass verges around the town.

The cash was awarded from the Parishes Together Fund, a joint East Devon District Council and Devon County Council initiative in which £1.10 per elector in each parish is put into a central pot. Town and parish councils can then apply for funding.

In Ottery St Mary, town councillors teamed up with their counterparts in Cranbrook, Broadclyst, Clyst Honiton and Poltimore to secure £4,970 to bring in a theatre company to stage a play to educate all year nine students in East Devon about the dangers of child sexual exploitation.

Branscombe Parish Council joined forces with Axmouth and Seaton’s town councils to net £7,125 to create a tourism app for the area so residents and visitors can find out what’s going on in the area.

A further £124,300 is available in the next round of funding from the scheme.

Applications have to come from town and parish councils but voluntary and community groups, schools and other organisations can put their ideas forward to their council.

Councillor Phil Twiss, who chairs the fund, said: “I am very proud to be involved in the grass roots Parishes Together Fund, as it pumps funding directly in to local projects promoted by parish councils.

“I would encourage all town and parish councils to apply for funding. The quality of some of the projects this year has been outstanding.”

To find out more about the Parishes Together Fund, including application forms and guidance, visit www.eastdevon.gov.uk/grants-and-funding/parishes-together-fund.